STOCKHOLM, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Three cases of Zika virus infection have been discovered in France, Swedish Television (SVT) reported on Friday, quoting the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

According to the ECDC, these are the first locally-acquired cases in Europe -- that is, cases in which people have been infected by European mosquitoes.

The risk that the deadly virus could establish itself in southern France, however, is "virtually non-existent", according to the ECDC.

"After every season, all mosquitoes die, even in southern France. And infected people carry the virus in their blood for just a few days," Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency of Sweden told SVT.

The Zika virus, according to the ECDC, is a mosquito-borne virus which results in mostly mild symptoms but is treated very seriously due to the chance of the virus causing brain damage in foetuses if pregnant women are infected.

First discovered in the 1940s, cases emerged in 2015 in South America and have spread further throughout the Americas in subsequent seasons. Enditem

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